As I noted in a post on March 11th, Meade had the impression that the protesters had put the handcuffs on the door, but he was "trying to get an authoritative interview from the police." He left a message with Tubbs, and Tubbs called back to say that he was investigating and would call back, which he did today.

I look forward to more investigation into what happened that night, when the police were overwhelmed and, apparently, resorted to handcuffing the doors shut. I have heard from some police officers who feel demoralized about the way they have been disabled from keeping order.

The police were between a rock and a hard place. Had the doors not been cuffed together, anyone inside could push the door open to let as many people as possible in. (shades of a youth misspent at the movies) But, the risk of trapping people inside could have been acceptably small, because

1. The chance of a fire in the Capitol is small.2. There should have only been a few people inside the Capitol at that time.3. In case of fire, police were available both to conduct an orderly evacuation, and to unlock the handcuffs.

If the police were using handcuffs to lock a door they were pretty much ignoring a fairly specific fire code. Why they resorted to that rather than call for help is obviously what needs to be determined. Seems like the whole thing was dangerously out of control.

The Capitol at Madison burned to the ground in a fire! This Rotunda is in a rebuilt building.

As to using cuffs on the door, that door doesn't open IN. I think the doors open OUT.

And, yes, there's a video I saw Meade took where there was a crush of people attempting to get into the Rotunda after it was supposed to be closed for the night.

Yes, we've been shown Meade's photographs of the damage to a door hinge. A door that had a panel kicked in. And, a brass frame around one of the doorknobs, where someone tried to break it with a screw driver, or something.

I also know the uniformed police changed. (From the guys in blue shirts), to what I thought were the State Police, in brown & tan.

Doors can be locked with locks. And, also with brass fittings that go from the door to a latch above it.

And, yes. After the 14-democraps returned, one of them opened a first story window ... giving entry to protesters AFTER HOURS.

A lot of good this did for them. Because I think a majority of people are disgusted now over what they saw. Including teachers as law breakers. And, doctors who gave out "free sick notes."

With honorable mention to the "bullhorn nurse" ... asking to see Governor Goofy.

Free country. Best safety valve in the world is to meet free speech with more free speech.

Depends on what you mean by "small." The marble slabs face what is primarily a wooden structure. According to a Capitol Police officer I spoke to that night, fire would spread extremely quickly through the building. That's why I got out after seeing the handcuffs and why I advised others to do the same.

Btw, the scene that Wednesday night was far from "peaceful." Door panels were broken out and window glass was broken. In the rotunda there was a general mood of success and solidarity - lots of smiling, laughing, hugging. But at the doors, there was hyper excitement, shouting, screaming, pushing, a palpable sense of danger and chaos.

You know, when I saw the picture of the handcuffed doors I said to myself that it had to have been done by a protestor. Nobody who takes seriously the responsibility to protect and serve the public could be so stupid. Guess not.

Somebody wants us to believe the cops did this as a public safety measure in defiance of whatever building and fire codes (with which said cops must have at least a nodding acquaintance) are in place and realizing that a good many cathedrals and similar building throughout history have burned to a cinder?

Meanwhile on the other side of the Lake, the Lansing MI police dept. is doing their best imitation of the Madison gendarmes. http://www.wwmt.com/articles/lansing-1388582-msp-newschannel.htmlThe mayor of Lansing, Virg Bernero, is a huge union guy. He got stomped in the last MI gubernatorial election by Rick Snyder. The cops are playing a dangerous game.

WTF! Police did this? Don't they have nightmares of banquet hall fires, Virginia Tech? (Here at VT, they have replaced every door latch on campus that can be chained shut.) Madison cops must be in their own bubble.

Sound like he asked them and couldn't get a straight answer. Impotence.

I dunno, I just find it odd that this guy would take the time to call Meade back with an equivocal answer to such a simple question. Either his guys did or did not cuff the doors, but a week later and you're still not sure? Strange.

In Chief Tubbs's defense, I have been dogging him every day - going into his office and leaving messages asking for a call back. Last Friday he promised to get back to me by Mon. afternoon, Tues. morning at the latest. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I stopped in and left messages for him. I was surprised he called me today when he still had not come to a conclusion. I'll keep visiting his office every week until I get his final answer. Whoever put those cuffs on the doors used very bad judgement and if indeed it was a police officer or state trooper - the only LE in the building that night - I'll take it as another sign of the panic and chaos the flash mob created when they stormed the building.

fls makes a good point. The facebook flash mob happened very quickly but even then it wasn't instant.

The number of cops in the building had been radically reduced from a week earlier. It makes sense to me that, as glass was breaking, door panels were being punched through, and door plates were being pried up, one or two cops panicked and slapped their cuffs on those particular doors.

I think you will find your answer by placing an open records request or FOIA request for the radio communications recordings for the capitol police. I was sort of an ear witness to those events via police scanner (RS Pro-164 trunk tracker) and I heard the command post give orders to police to secure the door with handcuffs. I'm nearly 100% certain that WSJ reporters know this too, because they were frequently tweeting what the cap police were saying to the #WIunion crowd and basically helping them to breach the building.

From what I heard on the scanner it was a very desperate situation for the police. They were trying to secure the building but the mob was pressing on doors on both sides of them and climbing through first floor windows. They could not get those doors to close and were holding them shut with their bodies. At that point the command post told them to secure them with handcuffs.

Shortly after this, a different door on the other end of the building was breached. They never said how, but I think the McIver Institute photo of the hinge pins being removed tells that story. After the crowd started to storm the building, Capitol Police knew they had lost and they ordered all LEOs in the building to the third floor in what sounded like a very chaotic retreat. The crowd was so loud, the police had trouble hearing the order and they issued that order many times before the police were able to retreat to a better position.

I would bet they have tapes of this incident. Law enforcement almost always records these channels. I don't know if open records request covers this, but that's how you can get it.